Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,410,000 shares, a decline of 15.4% from the September 15th total of 2,850,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 550,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In related news, Director Frank E. Bertucci sold 2,053 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $117,082.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,286,254.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 268.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 985 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Hancock Whitney during the 2nd quarter valued at $63,000. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HWC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.67.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 1.0 %

HWC traded up $0.53 during trading on Monday, hitting $53.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 378,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 498,949. Hancock Whitney has a twelve month low of $32.16 and a twelve month high of $57.78. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $50.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.11. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The company had revenue of $359.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Hancock Whitney’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 37.30%.

About Hancock Whitney

Hancock Whitney Corporation operates as the financial holding company for Hancock Whitney Bank that provides traditional and online banking services to commercial, small business, and retail customers. It offers various transaction and savings deposit products consisting of brokered deposits, time deposits, and money market accounts; treasury management services, secured and unsecured loan products including revolving credit facilities, and letters of credit and similar financial guarantees; and trust and investment management services to retirement plans, corporations, and individuals, and investment advisory and brokerage products.